Sensual, shocking and deeply subversive, Luis Bu˝uel
and Salvador Dali's surreal short from 1928, Un Chien Andalou, is a
masterpiece of provocation: one of the few films - arguably the only film -
really to use the medium's potential for pure anarchy.

In Un Chien Andalou, the cinema becomes an anti-rational arena for that
which is elsewhere unthinkable and inadmissible. A cloud drifts across a
floating moon; a razor slices a woman's eyeball; grand pianos with dead cattle
are dragged across a bourgeois sitting room; ants scurry in and out of a hole in
a man's hand; his mouth is transformed into armpit hair - one of the most
disquieting, hilarious images ever committed to celluloid. When Foucault wrote
about Borges's mythical Chinese encyclopedia with its bizarre classifications,
he says he laughed out loud at "the stark impossibility of thinking that". The
images in Un Chien Andalou make you laugh the same way.

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The
Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio

Silent - Commentary in Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles

English
(for Commentary),
None

Features

Release Information:Studio: BFI Video

Aspect Ratio:Original aspect Ratio 1.28:1

Edition Details:

• Documentary
A Proposito De Bunuel with optional subtitles (1:39:15)
• Commentary by Robert Short with optional subtitles
• Introduction by Robert Short with optional subtitles (25:20)
• 28 page booklet in case with "L'Age
D'or"

Well - I am
floored! What a magnificent package. Un Chien Andalou looks to
come from the BFI Video/analog catalogue with a little chroma bug here
and there. The true gem of this DVD is the A
Proposito De Bu˝uel feature. Inspiring... it makes you want to quit
your job to immerse yourself in Bu˝uel as a full time project! I
LOVE the idea of optional subtitles on everything. Done before by BFI
and it looks like it's here to stay. What a fabulous idea! This is even
an advancement over what Criterion does. This is a strong contender for
DVD of the year. Sure some damage is visible, but with what they include
and how they present it, I am willing to give a wide berth on
technical (perhaps a million dollar restoration could bump the image to
be 20% better)... and the film is almost 75 years old. It still looks very
good with excellent contrast, good title card and extras. out
of

After the success of Un Chien Andalou with
accolades from the ruling Parisian surrealists, Luis Bu˝uel and Salvador DalÝ
were commissioned by Marie-Laurie and Charles de Noailles to make another
experimental short film. It was expected that it would be extensively using
classical music and obtuse imagery. What resulted was an alarming mediation on
how to disrupt the public majority. Everyone seemed insulted... and they
protested. It seems almost impossible that this film could have been made so
long ago. Bu˝uel and Dali
are thumbing their respective noses at every conceivable social moray and value.
I wish I could think of someone to compare this to in modern day... but no one
would be worthy.

Bu˝uel penned
that L'Age d'Or was about "the impossible force that thrusts two people
together [and] the impossibility of their ever becoming one." Amusingly enough
the couple referred to were both sex-maniacs who reveled by lusting after
everything including each other and inanimate objects. Eventually this breaks
down as something beyond a film - something that cannot be scrutinized in a
short paragraph or two. My advice is only to watch it... and enjoy. out
of

This is just too
much! RE: The commentary - Selecting the commentary track you see only
about 26 minutes of the film with Robert Short's articulate words which are to be treasured.
He
divines logical interpretation where rarely would even the most ardent Bu˝uel
fan observe. I found it very illuminating although wished it would
spread to the entire film rather than less than half. If anyone could
transform a surrealist neophyte into a devout fan - this commentary
would do it !

A little damage in the film - again
analog and non-interlaced (most likely taken from beta),
excellent subtitles and commentary titles. This edition has become on of
my most treasured DVD packages. Don't hesitate - I'm off to watch and
listen to the commentary yet again.out
of